Fine-Tuning Before The Debut In The Peace Cup

Juventus had a fine-tuning session this morning at the Estadio Guadalchivir. The bianconeri were on the field at 10:30hrs to perfect the mechanisms in view of tonight’s match against Seville, the first match of the Peace Cup at the Estadio Olimpico.

Ferrara divided the group into two similar teams, who while paying on half the field, tried out various solutions ranging from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, putting into practice one of the coach’s principles: Juventus must be capable of playing in different formations, even during the match itself.

Diego took part in all the session with his team mates, while Momo Sissoko and Paolo De Ceglie remained in the gym. Camoranesi worked separately to recover from a blow to the calf suffered during training yesterday.

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Season Tickets: Last Year’s Quota Reached

With little less then a month to the beginning of the 2009/10 Serie A (the bianconeri will play their first match at home on the 22nd or 23rd of August), the season ticket sale is coming to an end.

One week before the end of the sale, on the 1st of August, Juventus can already announce the reaching of the number of season tickets sold last year. Up to today both ends are already sold out as well as the East Side and Family Stand.

The success was expected after the first part reserved to the season ticket holders of last year (with 85% confirming their seats) and this confirms the supporters’ will to see the new team of Ciro Ferrara at work.

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Del Piero: "We Want To And Must Improve"

"In all the matches, even in the friendlies, in which the scope is improving the physical condition and finding automatisms, there is the possibility of improving. There is still a long way to go, however, to reach the top condition and even this second training camp, so to say, will be taken with the maximum of dedication".

Alessandro Del Piero appeared to be amongst the most in form layers in the first matches against Cisco, Nancy and Vicenza, but the captain is not satisfied and wants to leave his mark even in the Peace Cup, perhaps by winning the award for best player of the tournament:

"It could be a stimulus for each of us and I hope it will be a Juventus player to win it because it would me we went all the way. The award will be a result of team work".

The discourse shifts to the gap between Juve and Inter, especially due to the imminent departure of Ibrahimovic which could help reduce it further:

"With the departure of Ibrahimovic, Inter and the Italian championship have lost a great player but they gained another. Ibrahimovic and Eto’o are amongst the best in their role and I don’t know if Inter will be weakened or not, because Eto’o has enormous potential. Trezeguet to sign for Milan? It would be strange".

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Ferrara: "We Are Working To Create A Great Team"

Juventus are starting to get down to serious work. In fact on Friday the bianconeri will make their debut in the Peace Cup in a match against Seville, a top Spanish Liga team:

"We have been taking things seriously since the 9th of July – clarifies Ciro Ferrara in the press conference launching the tournament – It is clearly an important appointment which will see us playing against teams of a certain level. It is however since the 9th of July that we have been working on becoming a team".

For the Peace Cup, Ferrara will finally have the complete squad at his disposal. "It will be a useful test to evaluate the team’s conditions. The internationals joined a short while ago and yesterday three important players, Legrottaglie, Giovinco and Melo, joined the team".

Attention is obviously on the new signings: "Melo must work to get back into shape, seeing that he finished with the Confederations Cup rather late. Expectations in his regard are very high just like the ones for Diego and Cannavaro but I expect more from all at Juventus".

"The first year in black and white can be tough and therefore it is my intention not to put too much responsibility on the new signings. I am not referring to Cannavaro who know the environment well but definitely to Diego and Melo".

"Diego will today begin working with the ball. We do not ant to rush things and him playing will depend on how far we go in the tournament and therefore we hope to advance and be able to utilize him".

Christian Poulsen’s absence attracted much attention: "He was not called-up for this tournament – explained Ferrara -. We spoke to him and he behaved very professionally during training. He must also think of the opportunity of playing in the world cup. It is a technical choice. He will now train in Turin and when we get back he will join the group again".

The Spanish journalists asked him about the deal regarding Caceres of Barcellona. "At the moment Caceres is not a Juventus player. Contract? “Jo no lo se” " answered Ferrara in Spanish, while smiling.

The Juventus coach got back to seriousness speaking of the next opponents: "Seville is a very good team. Up to a few days ago a dear friend of mine, Maresca, played for them.I know certain individualities well and it will be an important test even if they will be missing Luis Fabiano and Kanoutè. I have not yet decided with regards to the formation I will field. We will try to allow all the players to get match practice. There will space for everybody".

Talk shifts to the possibility of meeting Real Madrid in the semi-final: "I’d like to because it would mean that we won our group. Before getting to that match, however, we have two more to play. I would not like to read: “Bring on Real Madrid” in tomorrow’s papers. They spent a lot of money but if they could afford it then they did the right thing. Lately however, I think, even Platini is intended to regulate the situation to make sure clubs have a reasonable balance".

After the last two draws against Nancy and Vicenza, it would be important to get back to winning, even to help convince the team: "The attempt to improve physical condition must also come through positive results, but at this time of the season it is not fundamental. They help you work more tranquilly but they must not distract us from the idea of team work and the type of game we want to propose".

With regards to work, it will be hard to work in the 40 degree temperatures of Seville: "The important period was the one in Pinzolo. Now we will have to adapt to the climatic conditions. We will train early in the morning to avoid the heat. We must not pull back. The work will continue as planned".

After Seville, Juventus will play against the Korean side of Seongnam: "It will be a new experience – commented Ferrara -. I am not a connoisseur of Korean football but it is stimulating to play against it. They will give us a tough nut to crack because nowadays there are high level teams all over the world".

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